No more online exams from November, says Madras University

The University of Madras has decided to conduct all its semester examinations for undergraduate and postgraduate students in offline mode from November. "From November onwards, students will have to write all semester examinations physically in their classrooms. Classes have resumed, so it is the right time to get back to offline examination," S Gowri, Vice-Chancellor of the varsity told The New Indian Express. "All the affiliated colleges will be asked to make necessary arrangements as per COVID-19 protocol to conduct offline exams," she added.

A decision in this regard was taken during the recent syndicate meeting of the university. According to sources, many officials of the university during the syndicate meeting, opined on conducting offline examinations to ensure quality and proper learning among students.

"What can you expect the student to learn if they have to write answers by seeing their books and upload it later on. We are noticing that after attending online classes for over a year, it has become difficult for students to remain attentive in class," said a faculty member from the university.

During the pandemic, like other universities in the country, the University of Madras was also forced to conduct examinations online. Students were supposed to download question papers, and the written answers had to be uploaded within three hours of completing the exam. Even students who were not able to do so were given an option to send answer scripts through post. It is to be noted that classes are still being conducted in hybrid mode, that is both online and offline.

Currently, internal examination is being conducted in colleges and many of the institutions are already conducting offline exams. "We are conducting the internals in shifts to avoid crowding. Only 25 students are made to sit in a classroom to ensure social distancing," said MG Ragunathan, principal of Guru Nanak College in Chennai.

An analysis of the internal examination results will be done, and if it is noticed that students are not able to perform, then special remedial classes will be conducted to make up for the loss of learning during the pandemic, said Vice-Chancellor Gowri.